The Planner's Use of Information

Second Edition

By
Hemalata Dandekar

For more than 20 years, planners have depended on The Planner's Use of Information to help them solve their information problems. While the ability to manage complex information skillfully remains central to the practice of planning, in the last two decades the variety and quantity of information have ballooned. The methods of accessing and handling information — although often ultima...

For more than 20 years, planners have depended on The Planner's Use of Information to help them solve their information problems. While the ability to manage complex information skillfully remains central to the practice of planning, in the last two decades the variety and quantity of information have ballooned. The methods of accessing and handling information — although often ultimately easier and faster — require new technical savvy. At the same time, planners themselves, and the constituents they serve, have changed.

Learn today's techniques from the experts

The completely revised and updated second edition of this popular book will serve the new generation of planners who work in a world where computers, the Internet, telecommunications networks, and a changing population have revolutionized the practice of planning. Edited again by Hemalata Dandekar, with chapters by leading experts in data collection, analysis, presentation, and management, The Planner's Use of Information fully describes the capabilities, uses, and impacts of 21st century technologies. One of today's most valuable planning tools, computer graphics, is covered in depth. A new chapter takes the reader through a city planning director's typical workday to examine how to obtain, assess, and use information to best advantage within the crucial political context of planning.

Find the best approach

The Planner's Use of Information offers a range of methods for solving many kinds of information problems in myriad situations. It's an invaluable day-to-day resource for practicing planners and an ideal classroom text for courses in planning communication and analytical methods.
Illustrations, sidebars, real-life examples, cartoons, exercises, bibliographies, and lists of online resources enrich the text.

1. Information Collection • Field methods for collecting information • Introduction • Sources of field methods • Choosing a field method • Some field methods • Community participation in field research • Conclusion • Applications • Bibliography

5. Working with small groups • Group processes and the group task • Components of a group task • Establishing a group • Voting and nonvoting members of a group • The first meeting • Making decisions: consensus, Robert's rules or hybrid • Robert's Rules of order • Facilitating problem solving • Membership presence at meetings • Group resistance • Problem personalities • Termination • Summary • Applications • Bibliography

6. Public participation • Why involve the public? • The beginning • Special contributions from the public • Public involvement techniques • How to publicize the meeting • Identifying publics • Make the purpose of a meeting clear • Presenting information effectively • Traditional notification form • Positive media relations • Step by step • Selecting the right method • How to evaluate success • An effective public participation process • Applications • Bibliography

11. Planning in the political context • Introduction • The daily life of a planning director • An elected leader's resistance to analysis • The community as a stage • Elected officials and their constituents • Observation from a novelist • The nature of public discourse • New Orleans' land use plan process • Conclusion: a matter of style and engagement • Applications • Bibliography

Acronyms

About the authors

Index

Reviews

"The Planner's Use of Information is an exciting, up-to-date, and extremely useful volume that collects a well-written and illustrated set of essays by a varied group of excellent planning practitioners, most of whom teach planning. With sections dedicated to obtaining, analyzing, presenting, and using information in a political context, the book is comprehensive and balanced. The examples are helpful and telling. For instructors and students in city planning programs, the book is likely to contribute to studios and to courses in quantitative and qualitative methods. For practitioners, the volume will at least refresh the lessons of planning methods courses and probably teach quite a few new things. I recommend it highly."

—Rolf Pendall, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University

"Normally one would have consult several sources to obtain the information provided in this one book. Dandekar and the co-authors have done a remarkable job putting together a comprehensive and well-balanced collection of planning methods and techniques in one book. This revised edition is packed with updated and expanded material that covers a broad range of quantitative as well as qualitative methods and techniques commonly used in planning practice. Not only is the book an excellent resource for professional planners, but it also is valuable for planning students conducting research and outreach projects. It helps bridge the gap between planning practice and planning education, especially in the collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication of planning information."

—I-Shian Suen, Assistant Professor, Department of Community and Regional Planning, Iowa State University